For some reason Verbatim decided to change the design of its mouse to make it standout by moving the mouse wheel from between the buttons to the left side of the left mouse button. This made using it uncomfortable as it was in an unfamiliar location.

The nine buttons include the two standard left and right buttons, a small and difficult to use button in between them (3), two thumb buttons on the left side of the mouse (5), the mouse wheel which is clickable (6) and I don’t know where they other three buttons are. Perhaps they’re counting the mouse wheel movement forward and back (8) and then the speed adjustment and macro group switch as the final button? Really it’s a five button mouse with a clickable wheel in my eyes.

Speaking of the buttons, there are two thumb buttons on the left side. The more forward of the two is almost perfectly placed for optimum comfortable usage. Meanwhile, the second button is set so far back that you must either rock your thumb in a strange movement or you must completely move your thumb from the mouse and fold it back to use the tip of it to depress the button. The third mouse button in between the two main ones can only really be comfortably used with the index finger, unless you have thin, short fingers which may then allow you to use your middle finger on it. Its placement means you must remove your finger from the left mouse button to use it. While it might have been designed for use when using the wheel as an alternate firing button, you would need to shift both fingers over to the left and then use your index on the wheel and your middle finger on the tertiary button.

The thing I particularly like about the wheel being in the middle is that you can use it with either of two fingers. With the Verbatim Rapier V1 you must use it with your index finger which limits its effectiveness in my eyes.